Spelljammer Academy: Behold H'catha! - A Guide to Running the Adventure

I'm running Spelljammer Academy for my two DnD groups, and I am posting my prep notes for others to re-use, and updating the posts with learnings from running the game. I'm using the template from SlyFlourish's notion.so post. 

Part 1: Orientation

Part 2: Trial By Fire

Part 3: Realmspace Sortie!

Scenes

• The Spindle
  • Flighty Foundling arrives and takes Miken into custody. Boatswain Tarto and Saerthe Abizjn board the tyrant ship to join them, Saerthe as captain and spelljammer. Wizpop, Krik’let, and Pffred go with the Foundling.
  • Takes days to reach H’Catha. When they do, show characters the art above.
  • Tarto gives characters sending stone and bag of holding (for meteorite).
  • Characters find where meteorite landed but no meteor, and a single pair of tracks leading from the site. DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check to know its an ogre.
• Spindle Cavern - negotiate with ogre and beholders over meteorite
  • Cavern is dimly lit by cracks in the ceiling.
  • Two spectators named Greelob and Orlob ask the characters to figure which of them should guard the meteorite. Greelob arrived first.
  • Ogre with one eye follows a beholder named Kurrzot but is pretty lazy and disinterested.
  • Meterorite is 500 lbs, 2 feet x 18 inches x 18 inches.
  • Lots of options! Convince one or both spectators to go, leave it to ogre, fight them all.
  • I found the gazers annoying to keep track of. I would recommend removing them from the encounter.
  • You might want to have a short beholder encounter and escape. Maybe a beholder zombie gives chase as the characters leave, but its not clear its not the real thing?
  • The Foundling flies away with Tarto proclaiming “Now for the easy part”.
• Journey Interrupted
  • Saerthe sees a suspect asteroid, Tarto sends characters to investigate. DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) to see a githyanki damselfly ship hiding behind asteroid.
  • Qitru, githyanki on a starlancer, flies up and demands Miken.
  • No Miken, inevitable fight until Qitru or the starlancer are reduced to 20 hp.
  • If captured, Qitru admits:
    • Qitru and her crew work for a mercane named Vocath.
    • Vocath has several vessels looking for the tyrant ship.
    • The damselfly ship hiding behind the asteroid has a four giff and four githyanki aboard it.
    • Qitru has a strange tatoo that is Vorcath’s symbol.
  • The damselfly ship will let the characters go, but surreptitiously follow them.
  • This is a kind of weird encounter and could be omitted. As written Qitru attacks no matter what, and you need his ship to show up in the next part of the adventure. What happens if the characters decide to attack it? I think I would let him show up and not mention the ship, he can escape with invisibility. If you want to impart his information, I think that can also be done through negotiation. 
• Homecoming
  • After a night’s rest, characters are told to report to foundling in morning to swab the decks.
  • The ship from Journey Interrupted flies overhead and drops two giff on the foundling to steal the ship.
  • Once characters defeat giff, explosion from other side of academy.
  • If characters go to check on Miken, encounter two githyanki carrying Miken. If they stay put, gith show up at the ship.
  • If it is going badly Wizpop shows up to help.
  • If one githyanki falls, the other chops off Miken’s head.
  • Characters find tatoo with Vocath’s sigil on the githyanki’s neck.
• Graduation Day
  • Grad ceremony. characters told to go to neverwinter to wait assignment to a ship.
  • Mirt gives a speech where he gives himself all the credit and blames the problems on anyone but himself.

Secret and Clues

• “There have been a bunch of thefts around the academy here lately…Mirt and the bridge are letting any vagrant in the place!”
• “Have you been to the Rock of Bral yet? Let me tell you, its the place to be in Wildspace!”
• “I’ve heard tale of world inhabited by elves whose star is dying! Hate to be them!” - A reference to the Xaryxian Empire.
• “Vocath is a Mercane, some kind of space giant, who has a grudge against Mirt. I hear it has something to do with an astral elf lady.“

NPCs

• Boatswain Tarto
• Saerthe Abizjn
• Miken Haverstance

Monsters

• Spectator
• Gazer
• Ogre
• Githyanki Warrior
• Star Lancer
• Giff Shipmate

Treasure

At the end of the adventure, each character can choose one of the following:

• +1 rod of the pact keeper
• +1 shield
• +1 weapon
• Bag of Holding
• Goggles of Night

Spelljammer Academy: Realmspace Sortie! - A Guide to Running the Adventure

I'm running Spelljammer Academy for my two DnD groups, and I am posting my prep notes for others to re-use, and updating the posts with learnings from running the game. I'm using the template from SlyFlourish's notion.so post. 

Part 1: Orientation

Part 2: Trial By Fire

Part 4: Behold H'Catha

Scenes

• Tyrant Trap!
  • Boatswain Tarto wakes the characters and tells them they need to retrieve an adamantine meteor from a place called H’Catha.
  • H’Catha is filthy with beholders, so characters will take a tryant ship to sneak in.
  • Petty Officer Winston Ryeback will lead the mission. Miken Haverstance, Krik’lit, and Pffred will act as shiphands.
  • The Tyrant Ship
  • Note gravity flips depending on which side of the gravity plane you are on.
  • Make a handout of the equipment. 
  • Make sure you give the characters the ship handout, it explains a lot about getting around.
  • Characters have to work together to get the spelljamming helm up to the command deck and installed.
  • When characters get to the command deck, a trap activates that makes ship spin end over end.
  • Roll initiative.
  • On 20, DC 15 Dex save or 7 damage and knocked prone. Half damage and no prone on a success.
  • On character turn, they can take countermeasures:
  • Brace: DC 15 strength (Athletics) check for advantage on next Dex save
  • Deactivate Trap: 10% chance to randomly deactivate by mashing buttons, or DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana).
  • Magic: Can mitigate with feather fall, levitate
  • Roll: DC 15 dexterity (Acrobatics) for advantage on next Dex save.
  • Ryeback uses featherfall on himself and NPCs.
• Like Clockwork - deal with clockwork horrors and help an injured autognome
  • Characters with passive Wisdom (Perception) score hear clank of metal on stone from closed hatch
  • On hollow deck, 3 clockwork horrors are building another from autognome corpses
  • Horrors taunt character in thri-kreen, saying the characters brought a helm to their ship
  • After horrors are defeated, DC 11 Wisdom (Perception) check to find an autognome named
  • After horrors are defeated, DC 11 Wisdom (Perception) check to find an autognome with defective vocal cords named Wizpop. DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to repair his vocal cords.
  • 5 100 gp pearls and a spell scroll of rope trick
• Fire in the Galley!
• Miken Haverstance shows up disheveled, says there is a fire in the galley
• Characters have to deal with smoke - DC 10 Constitution save at start of turn or gain exhaustion
• Miken set the fire with a glyph of warding
• Characters find Ryeback’s dead body, get attacked by magma mephits. Area is lightly obscured.
• Krik’lit and Pffred help put out the fire.
• Following supplies are destroyed:
  • Portable cooking surface
  • 2 barrels of water
  • 5 flasks of cooking oil
  • 2 chests containing fresh foodstuffs
  • 1/2 cord of precut firewood
• DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) to know:
  • The fire started near Ryeback’s cooking station, but station itself couldn't make a fire that big.
  • Likely explosion started at mephits summoned by a spell.
• Miken did it. detect thoughts or DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check to get him to admit it.
• Miken was hired by mercane whose name he doesnt know. Offered life changing gold to sabotage the mission. He didnt think anyone would get hurt. Surrenders to characters.
• If characters contact Tarto, she tells them to wait for backup, and she arrives the next day.

Secrets and Clues

Check off when revealed.

• “Keep an eye out for some of these new cadets - they think the can cut it by studying all day, but it takes more than book learning to survive in Wildspace!” - a reference to Miken Haverstance in chapter 2.
• “There have been a bunch of thefts around the academy here lately…Mirt and the bridge are letting any vagrant in the place!”
• “Have you been to the Rock of Bral yet? Let me tell you, its the place to be in Wildspace!”
• “I’ve heard tale of world inhabited by elves whose star is dying! Hate to be them!” - A reference to the Xaryxian Empire.
• “It seems like Miken is nervous about something besides the academy, like something he is hiding.”
• “Vocath is a Mercane, some kind of space giant, who has a grudge against Mirt. I hear it has something to do with an astral elf lady.“

NPCs

• Boatswain Tarto
• Saerthe Abizjn
• Miken Haverstance
• Petty Officer Winston Ryeback
• Wizpop
• Pffred
• Krik’lit

Monsters

• Apprentice Wizard (Miken Haverstance)
• Clockwork Horror
• Magma Mephit

Treasure

• 5 100 gp pearls
• spell scroll of rope trick

Spelljammer Academy: Trial By Fire - A Guide to Running the Adventure

I'm running Spelljammer Academy for my two DnD groups, and I am posting my prep notes for others to re-use, and updating the posts with learnings from running the game. I'm using the template from SlyFlourish's notion.so post. 

Part 1: Orientation

Part 3: Realmspace Sortie!

Part 4: Behold H'Catha

Scenes

• Breakfast
  • Meet Petty Officer Winston Ryeback in food line
  • Rumors
    • Two training groups (including characters) in competitive training exercise
    • Rash of recent thefts, especially Realmsapce charts
    • Ryeback had his custom pistol stolen
    • Recent attack on Mirt
  • Share a table with Miken Haverstance
    • DC 12 Persuasion to lift his spirits
    • DC 12 Arcana to have conversation about spelljamming
    • DC 12 charisma convinces Miken’s crewmates to call him over to their table
    • Miken’s crewmates:
      • Teyla - A halfling rogue who grew up on a spacefaring vessel before coming to the academy. She's quiet and reserved, but incredibly talented at sneaking around and getting into places she's not supposed to be.
      • Keth - A half-orc fighter who wants to prove himself as the best warrior on board a ship. He's fiercely competitive and always looking for ways to improve his combat skills.
      • Zarek - A gnome artificer who specializes in tinkering with magical engines and systems. He's always got a gadget or two on hand to help out in a pinch.
      • Lyra - A human bard who loves to sing and perform. She's outgoing and friendly, and her music can inspire her crewmates to fight harder and work better.
      • Gaius - An elf wizard who's fascinated by the mysteries of the universe. He's always experimenting with new spells and trying to uncover the secrets of the multiverse.
• Test of Mettle - simulation test against against Miken’s crew
  • Boatswain Tarto explains the exercise. Saerthe Abizjn explains roles:
    • Captain - give orders, need CHA or WIS
    • Spelljammer - pilot the ship, must be spellcaster
    • Shipmate - rigging and weapons
  • Simulation chambers
    • Characters goal is to retrieve a log book and return
    • DC 13 ability check to take off; success on first try is worth a point.
    • Challenge 1: Plotting a course
    • Challenge 2: Electrical Storm
    • Challenge 3: Asteroid Cluster
    • Salvage Operation - spot a log book amongst wreckage of a spelljammer and retrieve it.
    • Challenge 3 again
    • Githyanki attack
      • One initiative per ship
      • Gith ship stays at range
      • 2 shadows appear on round 4
      • End battle if:
        • enemy ship HP < 100
        • enemy ship takes 2 criticals
        • Character’s ship > 100 feet from enemy ship
        • Character’s ship = 0 HP (fail the simulation)
    • After battle, characters meet the other ship, now disabled. characters can help or leave the other ship
• Sabotage!
  • Simulation deck blows up when characters finish mission
  • Tarto and Saerthe are badly injured
  • Miken helped protect his teammates, but two are critically inured and need medicine checks to survive
  • DC 12 investigation or perception to find metal plate with sigil jammed into wall of chamber. Tarto and Saerthe identify as signs of sabotage. Blame on Vocath.

Secret and Clues

Check off when revealed.

• “Keep an eye out for some of these new cadets - they think the can cut it by studying all day, but it takes more than book learning to survive in Wildspace!” - a reference to Miken Haverstance in chapter 2.
• “There have been a bunch of thefts around the academy here lately…Mirt and the bridge are letting any vagrant in the place!”
• “Have you been to the Rock of Bral yet? Let me tell you, its the place to be in Wildspace!”
• “I’ve heard tale of world inhabited by elves whose star is dying! Hate to be them!” - A reference to the Xaryxian Empire.
• “It seems like Miken is nervous about something besides the academy, like something he is hiding.”
• “Vocath is a Mercane, some kind of space giant, who has a grudge against Mirt. I hear it has something to do with an astral elf lady.“

NPCs

• Review NPCs
• Boatswain Tarto
• Saerthe Abizjn
• Mister Blip
• Miken Haverstance
• Petty Officer Winston Ryeback
• Vocath

Monsters

• Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
• Bandit
• Shadow

Treasure

• If the characters win the competition, they receive 100 gp.

Spelljammer Academy: Orientation - A Guide to Running the Adventure

I'm running Spelljammer Academy for my two DnD groups, and I am posting my prep notes for others to re-use, and updating the posts with learnings from running the game. I'm using the template from SlyFlourish's notion.so post. 

Part 2: Trial By Fire

Part 3: Realmspace Sortie!

Part 4: Behold H'Catha

Characters

• Review the characters

Scenes

• Welcome to Wildspace! - combat on the simulation deck
• Academy Orientation - crash course on academy, layout, list of tasks
  • Debriefing and task assignment by Boatswain Tarto
  • Get welcome pack from Sor'Kur at administration
  • Get a bunk at the cadet quarters, deal with Veena trying to take it
  • Pass the obstacle course at the gymnasium
  • Ship inspection with Kip and Pak Whistleslap at the sky dock
  • Spelljammer Training with Saerthe Abizjn at the Spelljammer Nexus
  • Receive equipment from Mister Blip in the Academy stores
  • Report to Boatswain Tarto on the simulation deck for one last task
• Intruder Alert - characters deliver a surprise to a hungover Mirt the Merciless

Secrets and Clues

Check off when revealed.

• “Keep an eye out for some of these new cadets - they think the can cut it by studying all day, but it takes more than book learning to survive in Wildspace!” - a reference to Miken Haverstance in chapter 2.
• “There have been a bunch of thefts around the academy here lately…Mirt and the bridge are letting any vagrant in the place!”
• “Have you been to the Rock of Bral yet? Let me tell you, its the place to be in Wildspace!”
• “I’ve heard tale of world inhabited by elves whose star is dying! Hate to be them!” - A reference to the Xaryxian Empire. 

NPCs

• Review NPCs
• Boatswain Tarto
• Sor'Kur
• Kip and Pik Whistleslap
• Saerthe Abizjn
• Mister Blip
• Mirt the Merciless

Monsters

• Bandit
• Neogi Hatchling
• Veteran

Treasure

• 50 gp voucher to the Academy stores
• 50 gp ingot from Mirt once the Neogi Hatchlings are defeated